ICC Pavilion at COP28
14:00 – 17:00 (local time); 18:00 – 21:00 (GMT+8)
BACKGROUND
“Tackling methane emissions of oil and gas operations is one of the most important measures to limit near-term global warming.” This is a message regarding methane emissions that the International Energy Agency has been consistently hammering home. It has also calculated that only USD 75 billion of spending by the oil and gas sector is required to achieve these reductions in emissions, making it one of the cheapest options for reducing GHG.
This meeting, co-organized by the IFF together with Europe’s Task Force on Carbon Pricing, is a follow-up to the previous side event which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh at the International Chamber of Commerce. We will monitor the progress made by the oil and gas industries since last year, and see if some of the ones which have already made most of the necessary investments to phase out methane emissions might lead the way for other oil and gas companies. We will also explore the role of public authorities and raise the question of the creation of a global entity under the heading of a World Climate Organisation (WCO), complementary to the WTO, which in the spirit of the Montreal Protocol would put in place global rules and regulations to lead the whole sector to comply with the goal of net-zero emissions of methane.
AGENDA
Presentation of the ICC call to action on methane
Do we have now the tools necessary to locate and measure oil and gas methane emissions?
Diversity of oil and gas companies, be there private or public, of countries of oil and gas extraction and problems arising from the current geopolitical situation complicate methane leakage abatement.
The “Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative” launched in March 2022 gathers major private oil and gas companies in the world. 20 months later, it is useful to see the progress which has been already accomplished on this major problem for climate.
Some oil and gas companies which have already undertaken a significant amount of investments necessary to phase out methane are in advance to the OGCI agenda. By completing them, they could lead the way to the other oil and gas companies, and by doing so, play the role of trailblazers for methane emissions abatement.
A presentation of the World Bank’s “Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership”
While the European Union has joined “the Methane Finance Sprint” launched in April 2023 by President Biden to mobilise $200 million to fight methane emissions (far from being enough given the size of the problem), we do not see yet its policy on methane. Would it be feasible to use CBAM technique (a “methane CBAM”) to fight these methane leakages?
The Inflation Reduction Act enters into play in 2024. Methane phase-out being an important objective, what can we expect from this tax implementation? Would it be conceivable that this system be exported in other countries through a global agreement?
If China is emitting methane (mainly through coal and rice farming), it imports most of its oil and gas. In this context, by which way China could contribute to the abatement of methane emissions from oil and gas (a methane “CBAM”?)
The Montreal Protocol signed in 1987 triggered the phasing out of gases which were depleting the ozone layer. Thanks to this global treaty, we succeeded in saving the ozone layer. More recently the Kigali Amendment (2016), is phasing out globally refrigerants globally. Is it not due time to enlarge this approach to other GHG which are dangerous for the future of mankind? The world needs to put in place a World Climate Organisation (WCO) which would be a complement to the WTO, and start with the most urgent action which is phasing out methane emissions. An ambitious objective. But can the rapid degradation of our planet wait any longer?
